8 Eyes is an Action Game developed by Thinking Rabbit, published by Seta Corporation in Japan in 1988, and by Taxan Corporation in North America in 1990.
The story takes place in the aftermath of a nuclear war. After a Great King helped rebuild the world with the power of mysterious jewels he called the 8 Eyes, his generals turned against him and stole the gems for themselves, banishing him to the nuclear wastes before he could complete his duty. It now lies upon Orin, a swordsman and falconer, to fight through each of the generals' castles and defeat the strange creatures and soldiers within in order to retrieve the gems and help the Great King complete his mission.
Tropes:
- Africa Is a Country: The entirety of Africa is represented by a single duke. The same goes for Arabia; if you define it as countries in the Arab League, it consists of twenty-two separate nations. Making that particularly weird is that Egypt gets its own duke despite being part of "Arabia" (and Africa!).
- All There in the Manual: You'd only know the setting is supposed to be in the post-apocalyptic future by reading the manual. In-game, the aesthetics borrow a great deal from the original Castlevania, and as a result the setting looks vaguely 17th-century. There’s also the fact that one of the subweapons is a handgun. To make matters more confusing, the original Japanese manual tells a completelely different story: it was set in the Balkans in the late 19th century, and you play as British Empire agent Sir Julian James Bond, sent on a mission to stop a plot to resurrect demons.
- Ambiguous Ending: In the Japanese version's ending, Bond finds the Baphomet statue that Ruth Grandier has been trying to reawaken, still dormant despite being covered in sacrificial blood. However, as Bond tried to take it away, the cross on its head turned into a swastika and its eyes began glowing with an evil light, neither of which were noticed by Bond.
- Asymmetric Multiplayer: In 2-player mode, one player plays as Orin, and the other plays as Cutrus. The player playing Cutrus can fly freely around the screen to attack enemies, whereas in 1-player mode, he can only fly horizontally once released.
- Attack Animal: Orin can use his falcon, Cutrus, to attack enemies he can't normally hit, or to uncover secret blocks he can't normally reach. The Duke of Italy also has a pet panther that fights alongside its master both times you face him. Defeating it isn't necessary to clear the stage, however.
- Bag of Spilling: Any power-ups you earn are not retained between levels.
- Battle Boomerang: A standard boomerang is one of the special weapons.
- Big Bad: In the Japanese version Ruth Grandier is explicitly the main antagonist and Final Boss of the story, being The Leader of the bandit/demon worship organization that is trying to resurrect demons, with all the other bosses serving her. The English version of the story lessens her importance, though she's still the Final Boss.
- Boss Rush: The House of Ruth features rematches against six of the seven Dukes from the earlier stagesnote before fighting Lady Ruth Grandier herself.
- Death Dealer: The boss of the Italy house, Geno Comechip, specializes in razor-sharp playing cards.
- Dem Bones: Skeleton swordsmen show up in the Egypt and Arabia houses. After defeating a duke, a skeleton waiter comes to serve Orin and the duke drinks.
- Dressed Like a Dominatrix: Ruth Grandier's design in her artwork gives her a dominatrix motif, with her fishnet, high heels, and skimpy dress, and wields a Whip of Dominance.
- Enter Solution Here: After defeating Ruth, the final level is a puzzle where Orin must place the 8 Eyes in a certain order. Clue to their order are found on scrolls hidden in each level.
- Fuuma Shuriken: Walter Schmit, the boss of the Germany house, tosses giant throwing stars.
- "Get Back Here!" Boss: Bosses that use ranged attacks tend to use this tactic. The dukes of Italy and Germany are really bad about this.
- Graceful Loser: The dukes all share tea with you after being defeated and surrendering their gem, even the Final Boss.
- In a Single Bound: Unlike the other bosses, the Egyptian duke can leap at you at great distances, so forget about trying to stay safe on a higher ledge.
- Magical Barefooter: Egyptian boss Nari Tanatos is an Evil Sorcerer that goes barefoot.
- The Maze: The Africa and Germany houses aren't straightforward like the other levels, and require you to enter rooms in a very specific order to proceed.
- Mega Manning: Defeating a duke gives you a sword that deals double damage to one of the other dukes. You aren't told which one. One pattern that works is Spain, Egypt, Italy, India, Africa, Germany, Arabia.
- Mineral MacGuffin: The eight gemstones.
- Molotov Cocktail: One of the special weapons.
- New Game Plus: Not one, but two, differences including absence of the clue scrolls and the speed of the enemies.note
-
Nintendo Hard: You have only one life to get through a stage. If not for the password system, it would almost be unwinnable. - Sinister Scimitar: The soldiers of the Arabia stage.
- Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Ruth Grandier has a bull skull as her headpiece.
- Suspicious Video-Game Generosity:
- Each Boss Room in Ruth's castle has a hidden potion that completely restores your health. It'll be difficult to make it to the end without using at least one of them.
- Speaking of the House of Ruth, you'll notice immediately upon entering that unlike every other stage in the game, you start out at full power and with all weapons. Why would you need that? For the Boss Rush you'll have to deal with.
- Teleport Spam: The boss of the India house will occasionally blink out of the way if you deal enough damage to him, a trait he shares with Great Tiger from Punch-Out!!.
- Whip of Dominance: Lady Ruth Grandier wields a whip as her primary weapon, fitting with her description as a cruel and ruthless warlord (or bandit leader, depending on the version) who's dressed in a dominatrix-evocative attire.
